Govt's $6.8 billion transport infrastructure package revealed

Penlink, the Tauranga Northern Link, Otaki to Levin, Mill Road and the Skypath among transport projects to get government funding

29th Jan 20, 11:04am by Jenée Tibshraeny

The Government is committing to funding a number of roads consented under the previous National-led Government.

It has detailed the transport projects, worth $6.8 billion, which will be included in the $12b new infrastructure spend announced at the end of last year.

These include roads consented, but not funded, under National. Some of these were earmarked as ‘Roads of National Significance’.

The ‘New Zealand Upgrade Programme’ announced on Wednesday also brings forward and funds other significant projects, allowing them to be built sooner.

As well as roads, the $6.8b will be invested in rail ($1.1b), public transport, walking and cycling.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the programme was about making transport infrastructure "better, faster and funded".

Projects that have already been consented include Penlink, the Tauranga Northern Link, a third of Mill Road, some of the SH1 Papakura to Drury South improvements, and some of SH2 Te Puna to Omokoroa.

SH1 Whangarei to Port Marsden, the Tauranga Northern Link, SH2 Te Puna to Omokoroa, and Otaki to north of Levin were earmarked in the second phase of the previous government’s Roads of National Significance.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson will be in charge of the 'New Zealand Upgrade Programme'. Other ministers involved in the programme, including Transport Minister Phil Twyford, will have to report progress to him.

Twyford said:“The significant package is designed to give the construction industry certainty and confidence about future work.

“Many of these projects have been talked about for a long time, but we are the first Government to fund them. We have also made important changes.

“We must look to the future as we design this critical infrastructure. The projects have also been redesigned and future proofed to include provision for public transport and walking and cycling.

“We can do this and bring these projects forward because of our careful management of the Government’s books. It means New Zealanders can be assured they will be built as soon as possible.

Here is a full list of projects:

Roads

Upgrade SH1 Whangarei to Port Marsden to four lanes ($692m).
Penlink - build a two-lane highway between SH1 and Whangaparoa ($411m).
Upgrade Mill Road to four lanes and connect Manukau to Drury ($1.35b).
Widen SH1 from Papakura to Drury and building a cycleway alongside it ($423m).
Build a roundabout at the intersection of SH1/SH29 at Piarere, between Tauranga and Hamilton ($58m).
Build a new Tauranga Northern Link, connecting SH29 to SH2 by Te Puna ($478m).
Upgrade SH2 from Te Puna to Omokoroa ($455m).
Upgrade SH1 from Otaki to North of Levin to four lanes ($817m).
Make further safety upgrades on SH58 at Pauatahanui ($58m).
Improve the Melling interchange in Lower Hutt ($258m)
Improve safety on SH76 in Christchurch city, build bus lanes on SH76 at Halswell, make rural intersections safer ($159m).
Improve public transport into Queenstown’s town centre and improve intersections ($90m).

Rail

Improve the Wiri to Quay Park Corridor in Auckland, including by constructing a third rail line to ease the bottleneck between Wiri and Westfield, providing additional capacity around Westfield Junction, and works around Quay Park to improve rail access to the Ports of Auckland ($315m).
Extend electrification from Papakura to Pukekohe by 19km ($371m).
Improve the Wellington, Wairarapa and Palmerston North networks, including by upgrading tracks for the Wairarapa and Capital Connection lines, safety connections and refurbishment of Capital Connection carriages ($211m).
Develop the Drury railway station, with two new stations at Drury East and Drury West ($247m).

Walking and cycling

Build the Skypath for walkers and cyclists over the Auckland Harbour Bridge ($360m).

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137 Comments

by xingmowang | 29th Jan 20, 11:08am 1580249311

National would have done the same if not better.

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 11:20am 1580250017

Depends if you consider using general taxes to build roads a good thing. I will barely use any of these roads, why should I pay for them? Why can't the users pay?

by Pragmatist | 29th Jan 20, 11:38am 1580251126

I will use barely any of the public transport (which is over 60% subsidised), why should I pay...

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 11:50am 1580251827

Maybe you wouldn't have to if we didn't subsidise the car so much!

by GV 27 | 29th Jan 20, 11:53am 1580252022

And how do you propose we fund the massive contraction in economic activity if we're going to insist cars recovery 100% of their costs?

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 12:10pm 1580253023

I'm not convinced the correlation between roads and economy is as high as you suggest. I can definitely think of places that are very expensive and difficult to drive in that have great economies, and places that are almost free to drive in that have terrible economies.

by Pragmatist | 29th Jan 20, 12:21pm 1580253664

Public transport is mostly not an option for me, and unless i get a boring 9-5 office job, I can't see that happening. Also what if I want to head down to the Kauaeranga valley for a walk up the Pinnacles track, or head to Waihi for a run. Sorry, public transport in NZ will never replace private transport for people that want to do more than sit in front of various flavours of idiot box all their lives.

by Due Diligence | 29th Jan 20, 12:46pm 1580255199

You don't work a 9-5 office job? What do you do? Why the contempt for people that work from computers ("idiot box")? And your suggestion that public transport isn't or will never be a viable option for people that don't have office jobs is absurd...

by Pragmatist | 29th Jan 20, 1:32pm 1580257976

No, some of the time it is, some of the time its not. Currently mostly not.
Public transport will never make private transport redundant, it will never be feasible to extend convenient public transport to everywhere and everywhen people want to go there.

by Due Diligence | 29th Jan 20, 1:41pm 1580258508

Land surveyor?

You'll always need a mix of transport options. But good public transport is completely viable for people that don't work office jobs. Office job or not, if you work out in the whops you're out of luck as far as public transport goes.

by Kezza R | 29th Jan 20, 1:49pm 1580258974

Yeah mate hold the door open for a bit I'll just grab my nail gun, drop saw, 120 meters of 4/2 and my dog.

by Due Diligence | 29th Jan 20, 2:11pm 1580260303

Which is why we need a mix. Plenty of non-office jobs don't require gear to be hauled around.

by Pragmatist | 29th Jan 20, 1:52pm 1580259123

For some people that don't work in offices its fine. For people that need to get from the office to customers with gear/product, and at odd hours or unpredictable schedules its not. Yes, we need a balance, but Jimbo thinks it should be almost entirely PT.. and in the inner city with frequent services that can be practical if you don't need to haul gear about.

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 7:43pm 1580280214

I think you’ve got me wrong Pragmatist. I drive a car almost every day. I just think we already have a fairly reasonable road network for our size and population, but a terrible public transport network. The roads are clogged by people who have no other option and people who take low value trips because it’s so subsidised. This 6 billion will just encourage more people to drive and will in most cases just make the problems worse. At some stage we have to realise that a roads only approach cannot scale forever.
I don’t know many people who go overseas and hate using good public transport; most people rave about how easy and convenient it is. So if we are going to blow $6 billion on transport, why yet more roads? Especially after 9 years of a national government spending on roads only.

by youngdumbandbroke | 29th Jan 20, 1:01pm 1580256064

I agree. It seems we are hell bent on living like sardines in sprawling metropolis akin to Europe, Asia and the USA. The wide open spaces is why we love it here. I'd hate to see us end up like the UK

by Pragmatist | 29th Jan 20, 1:29pm 1580257771

Have you ever been to the UK or Europe? Was there last year, and they've got a reasonable balance, you can get places in a car, but they also have a decent public transport system. Need both, public transport is great for city dwellers and commuter traffic, but still need roads for tradies, reps and the like, and people that want to get places not served (and never will be economic to) by trains.

by youngdumbandbroke | 29th Jan 20, 2:04pm 1580259846

I've been to NYC. The transport there is great. But myself, like many kiwis, like the spread out nature of NZ. And yes cars will always be needed by folk to access rural and non serviced areas

by J.C. | 29th Jan 20, 3:14pm 1580264055

I've been to NYC. The transport there is great.

Really? S'pore, Korea, and Japan have far superior public transport. And how's those car tunnels under the Hudson from Manhatten. Dreadful.

by frazz | 29th Jan 20, 1:15pm 1580256907

by Foyle | 29th Jan 20, 12:00pm 1580252438

I assume you also use no goods or services that rely upon commuting workers or delivery of physical goods and instead live outdoors on an air diet? :)

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 12:13pm 1580253222

If it was user pays I would be paying for that via the price of the physical goods (just like I am paying for the price of their worker's salaries, their worker's food, their worker's housing, etc). I don't think we need to subsidise everything through general taxes that may add to the cost of a good do we?

by Foyle | 29th Jan 20, 1:52pm 1580259145

Fair enough. Though it is a deeply complex web of dependencies - with things like police or public transport or public sector workers and the like using that same 'user pays' infrastructure.

by mikekirk29 | 29th Jan 20, 3:06pm 1580263569

Me me me. This is a democracy. What next? No kids so why should I pay for Ed? Or “ my parents died when I was a child so why should I fund super?
Grow up

by linklater01 | 30th Jan 20, 7:28pm 1580365730

JJ,

A reasonable question. The need for infrastructure is so great, that we should certainly consider having more toll roads to release capital for say, water infrastructure. However, for equity, there must be non-tolled alternatives for very regular users-ie locals. I remember paying tolls in France as far back as 1980 to use motorways.

by Good Samaritian | 29th Jan 20, 11:28am 1580250529

National were responsible for delaying the building of Auckland Central Rail Loop; pampering to their overseas oil mates.

Increased use of electrified rail will at least reduce our import of oil, though National made sure part of our electricity dividends were exported as well.

You should have worked out now who National work for, which is mainly overseas interests that give the ex MP's sweet roles after the tide has exposed their shortcomings.

by GV 27 | 29th Jan 20, 11:37am 1580251069

FFS. If you think the CRL funding was about 'oil mates' and not 'backlash from the provinces' then you're even denser than that star that's about to collapse in on itself in Orion's belt.

Given that Labour is now also pinching roads from the RONS playbook, whose pocket are they in? Big Pharma? Kim Dotcom? Evil Chinese overlords? The Illuminati? Even better question, is there any lazier form of punditry than screaming about one political party being bought off by overseas interests while looking the other way as their counterparts do exactly the same thing?

by Good Samaritian | 29th Jan 20, 12:38pm 1580254693

I hate to say it, but I must have struck a nerve with you. Wouldn't happen to be a National Party advocate by chance?

If it means anything to you, I'm politically neutral and vote strategically when I see an abuse of power.

You might like to consider RONS were always on the cards. You cant keep deferring infrastructure spends, unless you want more congestion (inefficiency). My comments focus on using our countries own natural resources, which is far better than importing overseas goods or services. Chinese trains anyone?

You obviously do not understand the benefits of keeping profits local?

by GV 27 | 29th Jan 20, 2:09pm 1580260179

Your comment focused on a baseless accusation that National were in the pocket of shady oil executives. I can make the same allegation based on Labour's failure to deliver Light Rail. That doesn't make it right or grounded in fact/reality.

I had hoped National would have learned their lesson in opposition, but they have not. But I'll take the wrong action over tedious inaction mixed with a healthy dose of 'Wellington knows best' that is being served up by the current government.

by Jock Silver | 29th Jan 20, 11:56am 1580252176

Perhaps they would have signed us up to OBOR?

by Balanced Life | 29th Jan 20, 12:37pm 1580254647

How can National take credit for something that Labor is doing?... let them get elected first.
Woulda , shoulda, coulda. Captain hindsight's three sidekicks.

by Chairman Moa | 29th Jan 20, 1:22pm 1580257338

"National would have done the same if not better" most probable would be heavily borrow the fund at a discount from the motherland, and then at some stage in the future we would have to give up some sovereignty to pay back.

by tothepoint - d… | 30th Jan 20, 11:53am 1580338428

Auckland gets a mega-massive 3.48billion package......... Other regions get a pittance by comparison.

Why does Auckland always get favoured? This expenditure will further propel the Auckland economy - including, of course, house prices.

Labour has plenty to answer for. In my view, it doesn't warrant another term in government.

TTP

by Masher | 29th Jan 20, 11:11am 1580249511

What a difference 3 years makes.

I wouldn't necessarily call this a middle finger at the Greens, but more Labour doesn't have confidence in the status quo to get them reelected.

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 11:17am 1580249869

Labour won the election with progressive policies on housing, transport and environment and then don't bother implementing any of those promises and instead spend billions on roads. Pretty disappointing really.

by Fritz | 29th Jan 20, 12:19pm 1580253570

Yeah, very little difference between them and the Nats. Just a very slight red tinge to the beige of centrism.
Disappointing.

by Lanthanide | 29th Jan 20, 12:30pm 1580254236

Yes, because National would have come up with the zero carbon bill all by themselves.

by Fritz | 29th Jan 20, 12:40pm 1580254800

Pretty hypocritical don't you think to spend billions on roads.

by Lanthanide | 29th Jan 20, 1:03pm 1580256238

Just pointing out that there is actually a big difference between the parties, as evidenced by the zero carbon bill that National certainly would not have done anything about.

by Fritz | 29th Jan 20, 2:11pm 1580260317

Yeah nah...
Difference for the sake of difference?
I only want to see difference if it's genuine.
It clearly isn't genuine given the massive road build announced today.

by Kezza R | 29th Jan 20, 5:11pm 1580271084

We could say that was a Green influence, not Labour.

by RollingOn | 30th Jan 20, 8:45am 1580327150

The big difference being Labour sets up a committee. Literally that’s all the Zero Carbon Bill does. But why am I complaining, an easily appeased Greenie! Can you teach PDK?

by Gummy Bear Hero | 29th Jan 20, 12:35pm 1580254535

If you mix the blue of the Gnats , with the red of Labour ... you come to the conclusion that it is the voters of this fine land who've been marooned ...

by Henry_Tull | 29th Jan 20, 2:00pm 1580259647

Charismatic reporting in stuff.

And a gem here

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the programme was "a once in a lifetime opportunity to invest in New Zealand - modernising our infrastructure, preparing for climate change and helping grow the economy".

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/119105125/government-announces-billions-…

Climate change can meaning anything. Brilliant.

If this is how we deal with climate change, making every more productive, growing the economy, I am all in.

by wee willy winkie | 29th Jan 20, 1:02pm 1580256165

If memory serves me correctly Labour never won the last election.

by Squishy | 29th Jan 20, 11:40am 1580251253

Was surprised not to see any new energy projects given the tight supply in electricity markets.

by Gummy Bear Hero | 29th Jan 20, 12:37pm 1580254634

. . $ 5 million to convert some schools boiler units from coal fired to biomass ...
.
Biomass is what we used to call wood .... firewood ...

by frazz | 29th Jan 20, 1:15pm 1580256959

Did you get School Cee?

by Gummy Bear Hero | 29th Jan 20, 1:20pm 1580257229

... I'm guessing you got Honorary School Cert ... 'cos the teachers wanted a frazz free existence ....

by Henry_Tull | 29th Jan 20, 2:02pm 1580259747

Wood is the worst thing to burn. Will they be permitted?

by Uninterested | 29th Jan 20, 1:43pm 1580258633

Old trees vs new trees, whats the difference i ask?

by Ocelot | 29th Jan 20, 11:13am 1580249636

Fantastic, with ebikes and escooters a harbour crossing for non-automobiles will help reduce traffic significantly.

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 11:14am 1580249649

Why spend general taxes on roads? Shouldn't they be 100% user pays via fuel tax and tolls? Terrible economics IMO (but you will never hear that on this site as people are happy with crony capitalism when it suits them).

by Ocelot | 29th Jan 20, 11:30am 1580250619

Start here: https://www.motorists.org/issues/tolls/bad-idea/

I travelled around Japan recently. The cost of tolls were ridiculous. It really suppresses economic activity because it disincentivises vehicle movement. And movement is the life blood of an economy. Freedom of movement is vital for a vibrant economy. If only the rich can afford to get around, you'll quickly see your economy wither and die.

The economic benefits of large infrastructure projects go far beyond what you could charge for using them. That's another reason why we have to do them as a society.

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 11:32am 1580250743

So we must have a better economy than Japan?
Try travelling around Tokyo. Considering it has 20x Auckland's population it is much easier and faster to get around. And it is cheap enough, private and not subsidised.

Surely education is the lifeblood of a modern economy...

by Ocelot | 29th Jan 20, 11:45am 1580251539

Considering their GDP has been stagnant for 30 years... yes.

And no, it takes far longer to get around Tokyo over the same distances. I spent plenty of time there. The trains are fantastic, but you still have the first and last mile issue and swapping trains, stations and platforms can be complicated. Although an escooter could significantly speed that up. Trains are simply not as effective as cars from start to finish of journeys, in Tokyo they are, but not here.

Education is also important and another example of something that has been proven to not be effectively supplied by a free market.

by Good Samaritian | 29th Jan 20, 12:45pm 1580255156

Another one being fooled by GDP growth. Might be time to consider who owns larges portions of our gdp!

by Ocelot | 29th Jan 20, 12:53pm 1580255613

If you want other metrics. Look at their collapsed birth rate and suicide rates. And their own debt levels.

by J.C. | 29th Jan 20, 3:19pm 1580264390

I travelled around Japan recently. The cost of tolls were ridiculous.

The road tolls in Japan are fine if you go at the right time. When I was based in Japan, I would drive from Osaka to Nagoya and Nagano for as little as 1000 yen road toll on weekends. 1000 yen would barely get me from Albany to Auckland CBD on a bus.

by Fritz | 29th Jan 20, 4:47pm 1580269649

weekend skiing? Good spots in Nagano

by Noncents | 29th Jan 20, 11:39am 1580251163

Why not?

Imagine if State Highways 1-10 were dual carriage - wide, flat, smooth, more direct routes, with speedlimit of 120kmph for the entire length. No slowing for towns or interconnecting roads. Basically modern European highways.

What would the emissions savings have been over time?
How much petrol/diesel would have been saved over time?
What would the time savings have been over time?

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 11:47am 1580251649

Considering it would cost hundreds of billions, I imagine there would be much better ways to reduce emissions. Could probably buy almost everyone in the country an electric car for the same money!

Do you want a Europe size population to pay for Europe highways?

by Noncents | 29th Jan 20, 12:15pm 1580253331

Sweet, lets make sure we never spend now for future benefit. It's that sort of thinking that has caused most of our issues. If we delay another 40 years I am sure it will be cheaper {sarc}

Even with Electric cars. You would still save the time! and the required charge!

Example:
Say we saved on average 10 hours per person per year on travel (Not unreasonable given the volume of trucks/tankers/cars travelling intercity. That is 50,000,000 hours. At minimum wage ($17.70 an hour) - that is a monetary saving of $885,000,000 per year.

Now, assume a speed of 100kmph. That means you have saved approximately 1,000 km of travel per trip per year. How much Petrol/Diesel/Electricity is that?

I would actually like to see some real numbers done on this, as I imagine they would be significantly higher.

Calling our main roads. State Highways is not just an embarrassment it is bordering on Fraud.

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 12:39pm 1580254744

What you are talking about is the benefit to cost ratio. A lot of these projects have a BCR of less than 1 (which means they cost more than the estimated economic improvement). They are largely just vote winners.
Projects with a good BCR are normally built by NZTA out of the land transport fund (fuel tax).

by Noncents | 29th Jan 20, 1:59pm 1580259565

Yes I am.

The whole point of govt driven infrastructure is that the Financial BCR may be negative but the holistic BCR for the nation is positive.

Our main roads are lacking. We are doing exactly what I said. We are just doing it tiny little wasteful stages. Maybe in 500 years it will be dual carriage the whole way. At which point we have missed 500 years of benefits.

Transmission Gully has already missed 50 years of benefits. How much cheaper would it have been to build? How much benefit have we lost?

by rastus1 | 29th Jan 20, 12:07pm 1580252842

....worst nightmare. Carve the country up with tarseal. No thanks, I'd rather have a dedicated cycle way the entire length, - relax, cycle, exercise, breathe, observe, relax, ponder, slow down...being alive.

by waymad | 29th Jan 20, 1:16pm 1580256977

Delivering cement, one cube at a time, with the Cargo Bicycle... Pedal faster, it's Setting.....

by Foxglove. | 29th Jan 20, 2:09pm 1580260142

All the new and improved roading not to much avail for faster safer transit unless NZ addresses the abysmal standard of driving. Immature, impatient, inconsiderate, too often downright selfish, ornery, even obstructive. Lived in New Jersey for sometime. Considered to be the worst state for driving ability and standards. Tell you what, NJ would leave NZ for dead.

by Noncents | 29th Jan 20, 2:06pm 1580260015

Lol.

I love progress. From Horse to Bike. Man has come a long way.

Maybe some day we will discover a way to efficiently carry heavy loads long distances. Some sort of mechanical horse or something.

by rastus1 | 29th Jan 20, 2:10pm 1580260209

ha ha. set in your head I'd say. Misrepresent the point by all means. Take away the unnecessary wondering public looking for something by driving aimlessly from point a to b (searching for the beach that was on their Auck doorstep but they shat in it for eg) and plenty of room on existing network for all the necessary HT..

by waymad | 29th Jan 20, 11:14am 1580249689

It's lovely to see the extensive use of Recycling here. The Greens must have had an Epiphany.....

by pin3cone | 29th Jan 20, 11:23am 1580250185

Pity.. seems weighted towards roads rather than public and alternative transport, but we've gotta solve that congestion when people try to leave the cities for the summer holidays!

by Foxglove. | 29th Jan 20, 11:32am 1580250727

How much in reality is going to be no more than basically deferred maintenance and upgrades, including safety measures, that should have occurred concurrently with population and traffic growth. In other words it’s largely, nothing but an overdue catch up on basics neglected by previous governments.

by Believer1980 | 29th Jan 20, 11:45am 1580251517

Public Transport in NZ cities is a nightmare. Low density, spread over large and difficult to access geographical locations, pick time heavy use for 3 hours a day, and then for most of the time, sitting idle or running under capacity, expensive labour force needed to run it the list goes on.

Some money should be spend on alternative ideas for public transport and to find actual nz specific solution (and hopefully some creativity by some very clever and awesome kiwis), then solutions are thoroughly evaluated, the best ones then comprehensively tested to see how the work in practice. Only after these activities are concluded, I would support serious investment into public transport. Buying more buses is not the solution.

by GV 27 | 29th Jan 20, 11:52am 1580251926

Waiting for AI/Automated self driving something arather is the tech dudebro chad do-nothing-bingo centre square. Up there somewhere with 'replace central currency with buttcoin' and 'let's move to an island where there are no laws'.

by Believer1980 | 29th Jan 20, 12:09pm 1580252952

I am not expecting "technology" to solve NZ public transport challenges. But NZ does require a transport model that better fits kiwis and their environment and their travel habits. You need some fresh thinking here and you would need to incentivse some bright people to look into it and come up with solutions. I never claim to be one of those bright people who can provide you with a list of answers in a Interst.co.nz comment section. All I am saying is spending more money on a failed model (e.g. buses and trains) does not seem smart. Spend it to see if something better can be developed. Spend the money to get smart people to work on this.

by Uninterested | 29th Jan 20, 1:48pm 1580258910

Plus public transport in Ak is extremely expensive despite what the spin Drs at Council say.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/104618977/aucklands-public-transport-t…

by Foyle | 29th Jan 20, 2:03pm 1580259800

And public transport is woefully expensive. UK commuter trains cost NZD$0.8/pax/km to operate!! But fear not, even 1st generation electric air taxis https://www.jobyaviation.com/ will be cheaper than that when they enter service in 3 years - then we can just stop funding trains and buses and their infrastructure :)

by Squishy | 29th Jan 20, 11:24am 1580250274

Aren't most of these reannouncements of projects from the last government rather than genuine new commitments to improving infrastructure? How many times can you re-announce the same funding? Election year shenanigans.

by Lanthanide | 29th Jan 20, 12:34pm 1580254467

The difference is under National they weren't funded.

by imhenry | 30th Jan 20, 7:47am 1580323648

Really, and this lot have just put the money in the till. Please don,t copy generalized political media statements

by Balanced Life | 29th Jan 20, 11:28am 1580250498

This is great!!
Another Dangerous intersection is in Warkworth, where five roads meet, can we get a roundabout there too?Since it currently leads to major road blockages from Matakana, Sandspit, Snells Beach, Warkworth. People mainly just resort to waving each other on as there are blind spots everywhere.
Thanks in advance.

by junglejuice | 29th Jan 20, 12:44pm 1580255057

The new Pūhoi-Warkworth road (opening late 2021) will skip past Warkworth entirely, taking a lot of pressure off that intersection (i.e. no more north-south traffic flowing through the town). Traffic from Matakana / Sandspit / etc. will also have a choice - head north to join SH1 at the new intersection by Goatley Rd, or south past Pūhoi on the existing road.

We'll have to wait until that is finished to see if more improvements are needed.

by GV 27 | 29th Jan 20, 11:29am 1580250579

Literally nothing for North West Auckland. Meanwhile, Northland gets $700m on one road. No Light Rail. No staged busway. Not a thing. I've had enough. I'm not going to live in a part of Auckland that is invisible to the yuppies because nothing west of Pt Chev counts.

by JimboJones | 29th Jan 20, 11:36am 1580250966

To be fair there is nothing in almost all of Auckland... This is an upgrade to probably 0.001% of our roads costing $6 billion. Surely there must be better uses?

by GV 27 | 29th Jan 20, 11:40am 1580251227

$6bn was the cost of the proposed LRT that was going to serve South West Auckland and North West Auckland. Both branches. 40km+ of track. It's quietly disappeared and given the funding window for some of this stuff is out to 2025, probably won't happen before then.

by nymad | 29th Jan 20, 12:36pm 1580254579

Interesting, huh. Interesting that they can just kick they can down the road when it comes to policy.
Case in point:
By far the most significant growth in population and economic activity in New Zealand in the next 25 years will occur in the North Western areas of Auckland.
We know this. It is an undeniable outcome given the scope and sequencing of the AUP. However, not a peep on upgrading infrastructure now for this impending deluge of population.

Furthermore, all headed up by Phil Twyford.

by Sluggy | 29th Jan 20, 12:19pm 1580253579

At the crossing on st lukes rd by the motorway off ramp that goes from cycleway to cycleway, the beloved council just spent 1.5 million raising the crossing to footpath level because less people will die.

What gets me about this, and all these projects, is A) the cost versus what you actually get is so far out of whack it is unbelievable, B) Traffic trucks - wtf is that about - 1 person working on motorway behind his truck , 4 guys in 2 traffic trucks sitting there doing fark all - ahhh the unproductive economy, lump them in with landlords. You turn a $30 an hour exercise into a $300 an hour one.

Rant over.

by Zoltuger | 29th Jan 20, 1:58pm 1580259522

The first stage of the staged NW busway is only $40 million. That's rounding error money, Govt could have easily funded that today. A drop in the bucket to speed up buses for a growing part of Auckland

by Gummy Bear Hero | 29th Jan 20, 11:43am 1580251409

Whew ! ... thank goodness for election year ... finally Labour have the kahunas to stand up to the Greens ... and to admit that Kiwis need cars and trucks . ..

. . public transport and trains just don't cut it ...

So , where are the high and mighty Greens ... where's Shaw and Genter , with their anti car we're saving the planet rhetoric ?

by Ex Expat | 29th Jan 20, 11:59am 1580252392

They're working out how to swallow the dead rat they've been handed. Climate Emergency? Oil and Gas prospecting? New power sources? This is an enormous win for the silent majority. I may have to vote NZF to make sure the Greens can't reverse this.

by Gummy Bear Hero | 29th Jan 20, 12:09pm 1580252973

NZF stood by , with sour looks , when Taxcinda shut down our offshore gas exploration industry ...

... bought off by a $ 3 billion bribe to Shane Jones ... the regional growth fund ....

by Ex Expat | 29th Jan 20, 12:24pm 1580253852

They are odious, but they have done well limiting the damage Labour and the Greens could have done. No transformational change and this Boomer is sitting pretty (House now at 2017 CV and only a few years until I have my snout in the Super trough). Another 3 years of this isn't bad, just disagreeable for my children, but they can get on a plane if they want.

by Brendon | 29th Jan 20, 10:44pm 1580291073

That about sums it up. Ultimately I think this is bad for us all. But in the meantime some pigs get fed...

by ham n eggs | 29th Jan 20, 11:47am 1580251660

All a complete waste of resources designed to extend the Ponzi
Dinosaur thinking
When debt collapses, the ability/need to travel will be minimal
Reason; No jobs
Its jobs we need and they are now TOTALLY dependent on our ability to leverage more debt
This is the opposite of planning for the future

by Lanthanide | 29th Jan 20, 12:36pm 1580254604

Yeah but turkeys won't vote for Christmas, so of course Labour have to continue the status quo, until it's generally obvious it can't be continued any further.

by Gummy Bear Hero | 29th Jan 20, 11:47am 1580251633

Phil " Fulton Hogan " Twyford must be breathing a sigh of relief ... finally the Greens have been delegated to the background , where they belong ...

... finally , Phil can get on with building roads ... Kiwi Ashphalt ... after all , look at the bang up job he did with houses , Kiwibuild ...

by GV 27 | 29th Jan 20, 11:50am 1580251808

They would have been better off writing off all NZ resident student loan debt for people who have made correct repayments for at least three years. That would have really unshackled the economy without the carbon consequences.

by Andrewj | 29th Jan 20, 11:56am 1580252205

won't even touch the sides of the problem, which is massive in every region.

by Believer1980 | 29th Jan 20, 12:02pm 1580252542

so the only problem with spending money on roads was that it was National idea. Why the hell you postponed an already devised plan for 2 years? Incompetent and timing is super opportunistic. Does not paint a good picture of Labour values in terms of having best of the country in their hearts. This clearly shows that they only think about power.
National is not better off course. sigh

by Gummy Bear Hero | 29th Jan 20, 12:06pm 1580252783

Labour is desperate for votes ... the election is 8 months away ... and they've spent $ 12 billion on day one of the campaign ...

... screw the Greens ... Taxcinda needs votes !

by Foyle | 29th Jan 20, 2:09pm 1580260153

In reality they have spent $400million (infrastructure this year). Labour has proven that their election promises mean nothing.

by Foyle | 29th Jan 20, 3:10pm 1580263810

by Fritz | 29th Jan 20, 12:21pm 1580253693

The programme is 'NUP'

by Fritz | 29th Jan 20, 12:29pm 1580254159

Talk about an election own goal!
How dumb are the Labour Party and their strategists!!

by Gummy Bear Hero | 29th Jan 20, 1:17pm 1580257039

... the difference between Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber is that the Gnats had these infrastructure upgrades as a regular part of governance ... just something they felt needed doing ...

Labour have it as a vote bribe ... it's a part of their re-election campaign ..

by Fritz | 29th Jan 20, 2:16pm 1580260577

a vote bribe, really?
I don't think this will convince many swing voters to vote Labour.
Most of the road projects are quite localised in benefits.
For me, it turns me off Labour because it moves them further from what I elected them for.

by Fritz | 29th Jan 20, 12:31pm 1580254290

No mention of light rail?

by youngdumbandbroke | 29th Jan 20, 1:09pm 1580256541

Maybe saving that one for next election?

by The_4th_estate | 29th Jan 20, 12:33pm 1580254386

Port of Tauranga should be paying a large chunk of the Northern Tauranga project above and beyond road user contributions as its heavy vehicle traffic is an enormous volume on all roads in the area. I also suggest a targeted levy on all drivers living in the area as in my experience the relative congnitive ability of road users is alarmingly low in the BOP which I am certain contributes to the staggering accident rate on the roads. Speaking of stupid...their own MP's previous government decided to build the Southern expressway to an area (paengaroa) that has no discernable purpose to civilisation.

by Chairman Moa | 29th Jan 20, 12:40pm 1580254842

Political tennis match referee: Jacinda fifteen, Simon nil, James Shaw quiet please !

by Gummy Bear Hero | 29th Jan 20, 1:14pm 1580256844

... James Shaw ... code violation for smashing racket .. Gnats 15 ... hey , our roading projects will go ahead .... Labour nil .... swallow the dead rat , we need votes .. let's pinch the Gnats manifesto . .

by Chairman Moa | 29th Jan 20, 1:29pm 1580257794

WTF, that's not tennis!

by oreo | 29th Jan 20, 12:40pm 1580254828

"Our decision to fund these projects by taking advantage of historically low long-term interest rates means this Programme will free up funding in the National Land Transport Fund and Auckland transport budgets.”
I wish they were also taking advantage of those low interest rate and actually build some affordable housing or lend money to first home buyers at very attractive rates. Like our dear boomers enjoyed back in the days!!

by andyb | 29th Jan 20, 12:40pm 1580254834

Given the performance of the CoL over the last 2.5 years do we really trust them to spend $12bn?

You look at the list of projects and its nothing of substance... for $12bn.

Stuff the cycle/walking lane... I can see what will happen there.. as cars crawl over the bridge commuters will forlornly look at the white elephant tacked on to the side of the bridge.

You would be better served creating an alternative harbour crossing with rail capability..... that really does enhance the accessibility of the North Shore and Whangaparoa and if done right could also play a part in moving the eyesore Port from Auckland CBD to Northland.

I look at the list above and have to think there is surely a better way to spend $12bn.... unless Labour are expecting to commission a whole series of talkfests and consultations on the above projects.

It very much looks like there will be a large number of Labour and Green MPs lining up for the dole in October.

by sharetrader | 29th Jan 20, 1:18pm 1580257123

i am waiting on the national response, would like to see which projects they would cancel to fund warkworth to wellsford, the extension of SH1 past Cambridge, the second wellington tunnel, and the most expensive road in the world the connection from SH20 to SH1 at onehunga
and would they start talking about a second harbor crossing in Auckland.

by Tim Depositor | 29th Jan 20, 12:48pm 1580255300

What economist would disagree with the rationale of taking advantage of the low interest rates to invest in public assets to lift productivity. No question.

by powerdownkiwi | 29th Jan 20, 1:22pm 1580257364

No economist would disagree. They were taught that productivity was per labourer, which it was 200 years ago. It's per litre now. They're where Bishop Wilberforce found himself, post Darwin (Huxley gave him what he deserved - someone needs to do that to 'there's an unlimited planet' economics).

And even with low interest rates, it's still a borrow; an expectation that the future will deliver. But it's all over, really. We're out of time. Beyond 2020, the Limits feed-back loops become unbeatable. Pity nobody bothered to investigate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz9wjJjmkmc

Watch it, note the spin-peddling upthread, and weep. We're not even having the right conversation, this late in the piece.

by ham n eggs | 29th Jan 20, 4:38pm 1580269116

"We're not even having the right conversation..."

Sadly very true

by Kezza R | 29th Jan 20, 1:54pm 1580259255

We may as well paint the Sth Island blue and save the cost of holding a vote down here.

by Pragmatist | 29th Jan 20, 2:00pm 1580259605

Not everyone is as one-eyed as you :)

by Kezza R | 29th Jan 20, 5:14pm 1580271267

No but a lot have a hell of a lot of commonsense.

by Kezza R | 29th Jan 20, 1:56pm 1580259372

We may as well paint the Sth Island blue and save the cost of holding a vote down here.
How long till the handouts to beniferies are announced or will they be just more words no delivery?

by Henry_Tull | 29th Jan 20, 2:05pm 1580259946

The activity map does have a NZ First tint.

by Kezza R | 29th Jan 20, 5:17pm 1580271432

I doubt that after going Labour and calling farmers 'red necks', only allocating only $90 mil on the Sth Island and taking guns off people.

by Cowpat | 29th Jan 20, 2:08pm 1580260099

And in Melbourne Australia , a major roading 6.7B project and contaminated soil
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/west-gate-tunnel-builders-t…

by Henry_Tull | 29th Jan 20, 2:20pm 1580260803

I think the call of election, this announcement is ill timed, especially given the evacuation and quarantine of NZ & Australians now taking place.

Restrictions on travel to China look likely.

by andyb | 29th Jan 20, 4:08pm 1580267305

Ha... while Jacinda was announcing the election Scotty was working on getting Australians out.

Australians will be evacuated to Christmas island under quarantine... and NZers... um.. Jacinda says its very difficult but will speak to allies.... I am sure the NZers there would have preferred she had her priorities right.. NZers first, reelection 2nd.

by Fritz | 29th Jan 20, 4:49pm 1580269777

so much for the empathy

by sharetrader | 29th Jan 20, 3:07pm 1580263667

as usual all projects are to help for votes not for the future of NZ
why is there no plan to run a 4 lane motorway from kaitaia to wellington.
if they started at each end and taupo, in fifty years it would be done.
you would have generations of work for workers who would follow the road.
the way we do it now and take nationals road from Auckland to Waikato as an example,
do this piece skip this bit go down and do this bit then go back up and do the missing bit is inefficient and cost more in the long run

by Kezza R | 29th Jan 20, 3:13pm 1580263995

Let's announce we are going to spend $90 million in Queenstown, when tourist numbers are dropping and with this virus outbreak are expected to drop further.
I'm no rocket scientist but I'm going to take a stabe in the dark and say that tourist towns arent that viable without tourists.
At least they could have held back on that to see how it develops.

by Henry_Tull | 29th Jan 20, 3:11pm 1580263891

Key word announce, think time line.
Who can see the future.

by Kezza R | 29th Jan 20, 3:16pm 1580264175

Due for reshelving after the election then...
A change of tact for Labour, promises and do nothing, instead of promise pie in the sky and fail to deliver after pushing dollars at it.

by powerdownkiwi | 29th Jan 20, 4:16pm 1580267813

When it's a matter of spending-down the finite resource of a finite planet, anyone with an IQ of over 40, should be able to forsee the future.

It'd delpetion. It's overshoot. It's collapse. And - given exponential growth in extraction of same, that collapse has to be ' near term'.

by Foyle | 29th Jan 20, 5:11pm 1580271074

$360million for skypath is unbelievably low-quality spending. Nearly $300k per meter! More than the inflation adjusted cost of the original bridge!!! Would be almost an order of magnitude cheaper to have a permanent free bus service ferrying pedestrians and cyclists across bridge every few minutes.

by Roger the dodger | 29th Jan 20, 6:37pm 1580276240

Not to mention they already announced it was fully funded in 2018. It was 67 million back then:
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-fully-fund-skypath-part-…

by ngakonui gold | 29th Jan 20, 6:13pm 1580274823

Pork Barrell Politics at its very best.
How could you trust this lot,yes/no/yes/no we will build roads.

by Henry_Tull | 29th Jan 20, 10:29pm 1580290158

There is a real art, and body if knowledge to be across regarding running a project.

Speaking NZTA here.
It was deployed without the usual systems integration, performance testing, rollback or disaster recovery plans.
https://amp.rnz.co.nz/article/92b0f8c1-2770-44d7-8fbb-b11e2d13234a

The spend is one thing, you need look through and consider the structure of the ventures used to perform projects. The bigger the spend, the more residual project risk resides with NZTA.
As now reporting, plan to schedule to completion and productivities are their struggles.